Mortgage lenders find life a bit rich

May 22 2003By Eli Greenblat

Fishing, junk mail, sports promotion and mortgage lending might sound like an odd collection of jobs, but together they created new millionaires who are quickly racing up the list of the richest Australians.

Australia's unprecedented property boom has the owners of the nation's top mortgage lenders laughing all the way to the bank, with five of their rank joining the super-rich club.

Leading the charge is Aussie Home Loans founder and boss John Symond, valued at $158 million.

There is also money in fish - the tuna fishing industry landed two new people in the BRW Rich 200 list, with fisherman Tony Santic worth $200 million and Hagen Stehr valued at $160 million.

Mortgage lending and fishing were the most prominent industries in the new crop of entrepreneurs to make it into one of Australia's most exclusive clubs.");document.write("

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Not to be left out were purveyors of junk mail. Businessmen Philip Salter and Peter Mattick floated their business, Salmat, on the Australian Stock Exchange to become instant millionaires with a combined worth of $202 million.

But it was the new mortgage lenders who have really cleaned up, thanks to the red-hot property boom of the late 1990s, as they snatched more business from traditional institutions such as banks.

After Mr Symond, the next wealthiest home loan lenders are Peter and Rod Higgins from Mortgage Choice, whose broking business has given them a combined worth of $100million.

John Kinghorn from Rams is worth $119million, and Wizard's Mark Bouris is estimated to be valued at $88 million.